


Torch of the Radiant Way

by MrowSaystheCat



Series: Archangel, Dark Angel [5]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M, erm, please don't shoot me?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 19:38:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11721147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrowSaystheCat/pseuds/MrowSaystheCat
Summary: A corridor of mirrors leading to a garden.





	Torch of the Radiant Way

**Author's Note:**

> This title comes from the song 'Quoth the Raven', by the band Eluveitie. Check it out; it totally fits.

It was like falling asleep. All was silent, and washed under to half-formed dreams. Faces and names seemed to flash by, and then he was once more in a place he didn’t know. Glenn took a breath; looking around. It was a hallway; a very long one. It was walled in dark, ornate paneling; the wood pristine and dappled with mirrors of all shapes and sizes. As he walked down the corridor, the muffled sound of his footfalls on thick carpet and his reflections from each mirror were his only company. And he felt so cold. So very, very cold.

After what seemed like ten minutes of the endless passageway, he came to an opening. It wasn’t a room, really. It was like walking out of a hallway and in to a garden. One that was vast, and ill-kept. Trees, barren of leaves, reached high in the air – forming a vaulted canopy of twisted, tangled limbs. The thousands of dead leaves were scattered across the grass; an emerald carpet peeking out from under crisp burnt orange, fading yellow and sodden brown. In the center of this wide garden, there was a giant mirror; and before that, a stately fountain that had seemed to run dry in one instance – and was burbling with watery excitement in the next. On the edge of the fountain sat a woman; one that Glenn found to be rather familiar – though he couldn’t see her face from where he stood. 

He walked closer, leaning somewhat to see if it would give him a better view of her. When he was close enough, he could tell that she wore a black veil. In fact, she was dressed entirely in black. Even her wings were black; reflecting the dull lights which floated around them like a raven’s wing might. Where had the floating candles come from? And… Well, why did this woman have wings in the first place?

“Don’t you know me?” Her voice came then, startling him a little bit. She’d been so very still, he’d almost thought she was a painted statue. However, she was moving now that she’d spoken. The woman was drawing back her veil so that he could see her face. “You found me. What now, Glenn?” There was so much sadness in those beautiful green eyes.

“Mag-Maggie?” He felt breathless, like someone had crushed his lungs. Suddenly, another life – one similar to the one he’d lived – flashed before his eyes. His family, his friends. Daryl was one of them, as close as a brother. Totally human. And this woman before him. She was his wife. Had been. And then he’d died. Horribly. He saw it in his mind’s eye, and he felt himself stumbling backward; a gasp of pain and horror falling from his lips. Her touch came to his hand, and she was drawing him to sit on the side of the fountain with her. Glenn let himself be soothed by it, but he felt the option not to be. However, he wouldn’t insult her like that. Them like that. Who they were. What he was to her, and her to him.

“Yes. In that life, and in many others. We always find each other, but sometimes – not in the way you meant, love.” She’d taken his hands in her own; holding them gently, watching his face with a little smile. “There’s always affection, though; but each time it is a different lesson to learn.” 

“And this life…? I-I don’t understand…”

“We’re not always meant to, Glenn.” She was stroking his knuckles then, looking at them. His eyes cast down, and there seemed to be several phantom rings that flashed along his fingers. And on her own, too. Each a little different, but each meaning so much. And sometimes, they changed; their meanings with them. And sometimes, there were none on either – like for this life. At least, not one yet. “In one life or another, you are the Angel of Death for me. Just as I am for you now. There are a thousand masks to wear for all souls, and we all get to taste each dish and decadence; even the ones we fear. The ones that break our hearts.” Maggie reached up with one hand, and stroked his cheek; giving him a mournful, loving smile as she felt a tear grace her palm. She brushed her fingers along his skin, gave a soft sigh. “You know that it is true; Daryl knows too. He’s been here before, a long time ago – but he knows this face, just as you’ve seen it now. And the thousand other people I will be, in a thousand different lives. The thousand others you’ll be, too – all you, all Glenn.” Her hand reached from his face to his chest, touching over where his heart was. 

It started to beat again; when had it stopped so totally? 

“We only have a short time, love. You’ll remember me in flashes, and you’ll see all you’ve seen in your mind’s eye clearly. I promise you, I will never be far from you. You’ll never be far from me, either – not now, in this eternity you enter, in this world and with these eyes.” She smiled, and her eyes seemed to glow; their soft green becoming like living emerald fire. “And don’t worry; that other you, he’s safe. He’s sound. Death didn’t shatter his soul, nor shall I shatter yours. You gotta go now, love. It’s time.” 

With that, the hand that was at his chest pushed him back, and down. Like a baptism. The water sprang down on him from the ornate fountain; and instead of being caressed in waves, or being drowned – he was floating in raven's down. The feathers falling around him, Maggie’s voice a soft lullaby and her eyes the beacon to see him safe through the rest of the passage.

Glenn was falling.

Falling, and then flying.

And so very much _alive_.

“I will always be with you, and you’ll always be with me.” She promised; and the green fire gave way to total darkness, and then to a ruined house and Daryl’s bright blue eyes, staring down at him.

Glenn struggled to breathe; and it was Daryl’s hand on his chest, soothing him. Glenn felt like a doll trying to unravel, but not being allowed to. Daryl’s eyes were like brands to his soul, suturing him together. And within those blue eyes? Maggie danced; the Angel of Death.

“You’ll always be with me.” Her words, his voice. 

“Always.” Glenn replied; staring as the world came back to rights. Figuring out he didn’t need to breathe. He stared up at Daryl, completely transfixed. This was right. Maggie faded, but the smile in his soul remained. 

“I’ve found you.” The two vampires said in unison.


End file.
